Aeroneff Project

Back in 2011/2012 I fancied building a steampunk Aeroneff style flying machine for our games of No Quarter. I had looked at various images online and after seeing some really good models at Salute in 2005 I decided to give it a go.

It was also the first time I had decided to make something mostly out of foamboard.

I created a design template and sized it so there would be plenty of space for models on the deck.
After cutting the deck shape, I then cut loads of 5mm wide balsa strips and glued them to the deck.
Even at this stage, I like the way the deck was looking and the overall shape of the model.
Once the deck was done, I cut out the main control tower and glued it together.
It was at this stage that I realised I needed some new blades for my knife. The cut edges of the foam board were terrible, but as I was going to add loads of plastic strips to the edges I carried on.
The control tower and the deck were trimmed and it really started to look okay.
The deck and tower has been sized to take plenty of 25mm figure bases.
I guess this is where I decided that the size and shape was what I had expected it to look like, although I was not sure how the hull was going to look.
The rear wing section and engine started to come together using bits of an industrial model kit.
The stack was made from a bit of an old receipt printer and plasticard.
Using the barrels of an old dwarf organ gun, I made a simple deck gun for the foredeck.
I was working on what the back end should look like so started to make a single large propeller from some sprue.
Lots of trimming later and a spindle drilled through the center.
The blades were cut very angular rather than rounded.
They were all glued on at a slight angle and with plenty rivets.
I wanted two large rear fins which would be about the height of the prop.
The adding of rivets.
The next major bit of work was to construct the hull. This had to be deep enough so it would look like crew to actually get down there and also for the flying stand I had in mind.
Lots of bracing was stuck in place and it did not have to look pretty on the inside.
The above picture shoes the forward hole for the first of three plastic legs.
The two mounting points at the rear were a it more tricky as I had to try and get a shallow angle going outwards on both.
This shows more bracing in pace and once agin, it is not pretty.
To hide all the dodgy joins, loads of plastic strip was glued on and plenty of rivets applied.
At this stage, I was not sure how the propellor was going to be fitted to the rear of the hull…
…so I made this section removeable…
…with a paperclip handle.
I need to make a railing for the main deck and “borrowed” a load of beads the kids had in one of their bracelet or necklace making kits. They won’t miss them. These were perfect as they already had holes through them.
I worked out how many were needed and positioned them around the deck edging.
It was now starting to look finished.
With such tall rear fins, it would not stand on the ground so I needed some long landing gear. I wanted these to be removeable so once again, magnest came to the rescue.
I just freestyled the landing gear, I had no real design to go with, they just needed to th long enough and be able to balance the ship.
The engine was finally glued on place, in retrospect, I should have put a slight angle on the stack so it tilted backwards a bit.
The completed rear section looks pretty good, plenty of rivets everywhere.
I added three bomb mounts to each side that would hold some of the nice big Armorcast bombs.
So that was the construction completed.
There was plenty of room for crew…
…and when positioned on the long perspex legs…
…it could fly over the ships at a good height to drop bombs!
Once undercoated in good old Halfords Grey Primer, it really has a battleship of the skies look about it.